Visitors to the Dutch windmill in Pella are surprised to learn that the man giving the Saturday tours and demonstrations of how the mill works is the CEO of a technology company, but to Jim Brandl, it just seems natural.

Brandl moved to Pella 35 years ago, when he accepted a faculty position in computer science at Central College. Twelve years later, took a job in the business world in Des Moines, but promised at the time that he would not make his family move while he decided if he had made “the right decision.” Twenty-three years later, he’s still commuting from Pella to Des Moines five days a week, unable to rationalize leaving the community he and his family have grown attached to.

“We were established there, and we loved Pella,” Brandl said. “We were involved in the community, in our church and we still had a lot of friends at the college.”

Brandl’s wife became more involved in the community’s historical society when Jim started working in Des Moines for the Weitz Co. Through her involvement, the Brandls couldn’t noticing the growing interest in the community in bringing a windmill to Pella.

“In the Netherlands, the windmill is sort of the defining identity for the country,” Brandl said. “When you think of the Netherlands, you think of windmills, wooden shoes and tulips. Pella had the tulips and the wooden shoes but had no authentic windmill.”

On a trip to Holland to visit friends, the Brandls sought out a windmill maker who had recently completed an impressive restoration of a Dutch windmill, which are protected as national treasures in the Netherlands. A couple of years later, this same windmill maker was brought to Pella to do a study on the feasibility of building an authentic 1850s-style mill.

Along with a Vision Iowa grant, the community started pouring its money and support in to the project, and a Dutch company was commissioned to start building it, and this is how Pella’s claim to the tallest working windmill in all of North America came to be.

Brandl was one of the five original members of the building committee who wanted to learn how to operate the windmill. In his two weeks of training, he said, he learned right away that there’s a lot of work involved in taking care of the 124-foot tall structure, including regular climbs up the windmill’s paddles to unfurl its fabric sails, monitoring the speed of its paddles, and manually turning the cap of the windmill to face the direction of the wind.

Now, he and 14 others share the responsibilities of taking care of the windmill. His usual time slot falls on Saturdays because of his duties as CEO of Alliance Technologies, which Weitz and Life Care Services LLC founded in 1994. He says it’s his form of recreation, such as golf might be to some.

“This is a good diversion,” he said. “I enjoy visiting with people, and I’m fascinated with the structure. It’s my recreation, and it’s enough of a change of pace from my day-to-day activities here that it’s relaxing.”

Brandl describes being a miller as a combination of science and art. Operating the mill makes up the science component. The art aspect is in the flour-making, which is done about one day per month.

“Grinding the wheat and making the flour is more done by touch and by listening than by seeing,” he said. “The miller is constantly feeling the flour to make sure it is of the right consistency, not too coarse or too fine.”

The flour has to be smelled too, to make sure it’s not burning, he says. Brandl informs the windmill visitors that the phrase “Keep your nose to the grindstone” originated from old millers telling their apprentices to pay attention to make sure the flour wasn’t burning from the friction of the stones.

Brandl says the hours of work that he has put into the mill are worth it, especially when he sees the positive impact it has made on tourism and the sense of pride it has instilled in the community.

“What’s fascinating to me is see how people react when they see it, including the youngsters,” Brandl said. “They’re amazed by how graceful the machine is, and one of the things that we’ve observed is how the children of Pella seem to love to come by the windmill and watch it.

“It’s been a real focal point for Pella, just like the Netherlands, where the windmill is the hallmark of the community. It’s been that for Pella.”